Making a Plan for a Child with Special Needs

By Jenny Ling, Esq.

When it comes to making your estate plan, if you have a child with special needs, you will need a special plan.  As a parent, you’ve provided for their emotional, physical and financial needs and surely want to ensure those needs are met, even if you are not around.  This is especially important if your child will not be able to live independently when they become an adult.

The first step is to determine who will care for your child if something happens to you.  This is a big responsibility and you as their parent know who will be the best guardian for your child.  Dying without a plan in place means that a judge will be making that decision for your family, instead of you.  At The Law Offices of Jenny Ling, PLLC, we can help you create a plan that not only names a guardian but also instructs that guardian to ensure that the care and routine that you have provided  for your child will continue. 

However, naming a guardian for your child is just one part.  You will also need a plan to provide the financial resources for the care of your child.  If you leave money directly to your child with special needs, it may make them ineligible for means tested governmental assistance such as Medicaid and Social Security Insurance.  A “special needs trust” allows a parent, grandparent or guardian to provide funds for a person with special needs to improve the beneficiary’s quality of life without disrupting support from governmental assistance programs.

When you create a special needs trust, you will likely name yourself as the initial Trustee – the one who will manage the assets of the Trust.  But you will also need to name successor Trustees who will manage the Trust and distribute its assets after you die.  The Trustee is legally required to follow the terms of the Trust and use its funds and property for the benefit of your child with special needs.  Caring for a child with special needs and also managing their finances can be a lot of responsibility. It is the responsibility of the Trustee to use the funds of the Trust to support your child without jeopardizing eligibility for government benefits. For this reason, you may consider appointing a Corporate Trustee to serve as successor trustee.  responsibility.

At The Law Offices of Jenny Ling, PLLC, we want to make sure that whatever plan you make for your family will serve your whole family, even after you’re gone.  If you don’t have a plan for your child with special needs or aren’t sure if the plan you already have will work, contact us.  

Jenny Ling is a partner at the Law Offices of Jenny Ling, PLLC.  She focuses her practices on estate planning, business succession planning, business and bankruptcy.